Technical Field
The present invention relates to a traveling path estimation apparatus that estimates a traveling path of a vehicle based on images acquired by an in-vehicle camera.
Related Art
Generally, a road includes curve sections having constant curvatures, straight line sections, and clothoid curve sections having constant curvature change rates for smoothly connecting between the curve section and the straight line section. According to JP-A-8-261756, when estimating road parameters, the traveling lane recognition apparatus estimates a curvature change rate in addition to a curvature, considering the fact that the curvature of a curve changes depending on a clothoid curve.
As in the case of the traveling lane recognition apparatus disclosed in JP-A-8-261756, estimating a curvature change rate improves accuracy in estimation of a curvature of a clothoid curve section. However, in a case where the curvature change rate is estimated, when a vehicle departs from a curve of a lane, an estimation value of the curvature is calculated by using a predicted value of the curvature change rate affected by the clothoid curve section. Hence, overshoot easily occurs.